The Homely Doll
by kismet-wayfinder
Summary: Oneshot. Macabre themes. It is said that a Banette becomes a Pokemon from developing a grudge after being disowned by a child. This is one Banette's story.


**I own it ALL. Okay, just kidding. I don't own Pokemon or the characters and so on, so forth.  
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><p>It was a very merry Christmas morning that morning. Waking up far earlier than her hard-working parents had wanted her to, little Willa leapt from her warm bed at precisely 6:11 in the AM, carrying her favorite doll under her arm as she went.<p>

Now, just to clarify things a bit for the purposes of our story here, this was no ordinary "favorite" child's play thing. The homely looking rag doll with a stitched-on mouth and buttons for eyes had been a birthday gift for Willa some years ago. Over time though, its glued-on eyes came off, hence the sewn-on button replacements, and the mouth eventually became a loose string that a fidgety, five year old Willa had pulled at until the whole thing unraveled - hence the need for a stitched on mouth.

Now, regardless of the history of little Willa and her beloved doll, she was soon to turn eleven - Willa, that is - and as for her beloved doll, well, she was soon to belong to a girl who'd be at an age where boys and lip gloss and pop music were far more of a concern than her old, patched up dollies.

Nonetheless, Willa _did_ bring the purple doll downstairs with her that morning at least, waiting for her sleepy headed parents to shuffle their way into the lving room, as well. Feeling quite gleeful, Willa opened present after present after present. One gift received was an MP3 player - which she, naturally, adored - another gift was a DVD boxset of her favorite teenage drama television show… so on and so forth, Willa continued to receive practically everything her heart could have desired. Happy and quite satisfied, she gathered what she could carry of her new gifts and took them upstairs with her. The homely doll then lay forgotten for the first time ever since she'd been given to Willa in the first place - left forgotten on the floor.

When Willa's mother later discovered this after clearing away all of the wrapping paper and bows and ribbons, she herself took the homely doll up the stairs, placing it atop Willa's bedroom shelf. And it was on that very shelf that the doll stayed.

Through night after night, and day after lonely day, the homely doll sat still on the shelf, watching the girl who once loved her so dearly now spend her time talking on the phone, or else painting her nails or dying her hair various colors. All the poor doll was really concerned about was the fact that she herself was no longer a part of any of these activities - not one bit, never at all.

One day though, perhaps a year (or maybe even two) after that terrible Christmas day, the homely doll watched through her button eyes as Willa lifted her from the shelf. _Finally_, she thought to herself. _She's going to love me again…_

However, the poor homely doll soon realized that she had verily misled herself, for with no more than a few seconds' gaze, Willa tossed the purple doll into the trash can near her bed, before instead placing a snow globe filled with hearts instead of snowflakes, moving all about it, there on the shelf in the doll's stead. From the trash can, the homely dll could then hear Willa speaking to someone on the phone.

"And oh my _gosh_, don't you just _love_ the little hearts inside it, Jenna? Oh, it's definitely the best birthday gift I've ever gotten, ever! Josh was such a doll..."

Upon hearing these words - upon realizing that her place in Willa's heart had been replaced by a _snow globe from a boy,_ of all things, the fair-sized, purple doll looked out through the nearby window, which she could just see due to her position of being tossed atop an already full trash bin. Simply staring out through the window continuously, she did so for a long, long time, until at long last she saw a brilliantly lit star shoot across the dark, night sky.

_Oh, I wish!_ she thought to herself then, concentrating on the star. _Oh, I wish I was no longer a doll… I wish for a way to show Willa to see how she's hurt me now…_

Another second later, and the shooting star was gone. Left to lie atop the trash bin, the homely doll thought she could feel something different strike her limp, rag of a body. With enough concentration, she managed to flip herself over, off the top of the trash bin, where she was shuffled at by Willa's foot - shoved instead up under the bed.

Maybe her wish would eventually come true, but only time could tell.

. . .

_**That Following Summertime**_

It was a grand day for ten year old Rachel of Cinnabar Island. Today would be the day she'd receive her starter Pokemon and begin her Pokemon journey. Unlike her older sister Jenna, and Jenna's best friend Willa, Rachel herself was certain that she had what it took to become a true, bonefide Pokemon trainer.

After finishing her breakfast, she stepped outside and gave a good look around. She had intended to carry herself off to a newly constructed Pokemon laboratory there in Cinnabar Isle., but some strange sound from nearby caught her attention instead. From the corner of her eye, she could've sworn she'd seen something fall from the window of the second story of Willa Kamp's house.

Intrigued, she headed over for the patch of long grass into which the object had fallen into, pausing only briefly when she noticed movement coming from somewhere within the tall blades.

"…Hello…?" she said aloud, now more cautiously approaching the grass. "Who's there?"

After another moment or so of waiting, a figure came forward from the grass, showing itself to Rachel. Slightly tall and purple, with a strange grin and mischievous eyes, Rachel found herself entranced by the creature, rather than frightened by it.

"Hello?" she said again, before adding, "I'm Rachel, by the way! Gee, you must be a Pokemon, aren't you? Wow, I've only been a trainer for like five minutes, and already I've seen a Pokemon! Won't Mom, Jenna and Willa be surprised when I show them off to you? Well, that is, if you'll come along with me… What do you say; do you wanna be friends?"

"Banette," the Pokemon replied, before walking right up to Rachel and hopping onto her shoulder. "Banette!"

"Oh , _wow_!" Rachel exclaimed. "So you _do_ wanna be friends then for sure! Wanna be my friend forever, Banette?"

"_Ba_nette!" the Pokemon replied, remaining on Rachel's shoulder as the ten year old excitedly turned on her heel and ran back into her home.

"Mom, guess what!" Rachel exclaimed, the second she had stepped back into the kitchen. "I've already got my first Pokemon! It keeps saying 'Banette', so it must be a Banette, like those Ghost-types I've heard about on Poke-TV. Gosh, isn't it so cute, Mom?"

"Yes dear, that _is_ quite the cute Pokemon. I can't say I'm not a little amazed that you caught your first Poekmon already, but I'm definitely really proud of you, Rach', dear!"

"Thanks, Mom!" the ten year old replied, before turning again, facing the direction of the stairs, and then taking off, blazing off up the staircase.

"Try not to gloat to your sister and her friend _too_ much now, dear!" her mom called after her, before giving a bit of a giggle to herself.

Not actually even bothering to knock, Rachel had soon bounded into Jenna's room, her newly befriended Banette still sitting on her shoulder.

"What's _that_?" the older, brunette sister exclaimed, to which the blond-haired Rachel smirked and said in a smug tone, "It's my first Pokemon, of course! I caught it -er, well - I _found_ it just outside here in some long grass, near Willa's house."

"That's pretty random…" a second blond-haired girl in the room commented. "But it's also pretty cool, too, I guess. Congrats, kid."

"You're right, Willa, it _is_ cool! And thanks," Rachel said jubilantly, before lifting the Pokemon from her shoulder and instead placing it on her sister's bed.

"Who said you could put that _thing_ there?" Jenna protested at once, but the visiting Willa stood up from her beanbag seat and shook her seat. "No drama for me, please," she said, before heading out into the hallway. "Excuse me, while I go off to the ladies room."

"Yeah, fine, go," Jenna replied. "Leave me alone with this creeper…" She then took the yellow scruccie from her hair and tossed it at the Banette on the bed; it subsequently fled from the bed, and an angry Rachel stepped up to her sister, hands balled into fists. As a screaming match there in the room began, the Banette not only saw its chance, but made sure to take it, as well.

Slinking and slithering its way down the hallway from the bedroom, it came to a pause just outside a door, which was cracked open just only slightly. Inside, an unsuspecting Willa was washing her hands at the sink, taking in the melon-scent of the soap as she sudsed up her hands. By the time she had rinsed them, Banette had slipped on into the bathroom along with Willa, just waiting for the perfect moment.

As the tall blond took a step back away from the sink to examine herself in the mirror, she glanced for a second, over in the direction of the Banette, before opening her mouth to emit a scream that would never be heard.

Smiling its sinister, zippered smile, the Banette forced its star-shaped tail into Willa's mouth, preventing her from making a sound, before then reaching for Willa's eyes with her claw-like fingers. Digging deeply into said eyes' sockets, the Ghost-type clawed mercilessly into them until the eyeballs were beginning to wrench out, with a sickening 'pop' sound to along with them as the eyeballs were finally, fully jerked from their own sockets, rolling out instead onto the bathroom tiles.

Blood pouring from her now empty eye sockets, Willa -also still being gagged by Banette's tail- blindly stumbled forward, before tripping over a towel on the floor and hitting her head on the corner of the bathroom sink. Falling backwards to the floor afterward, now unconscious, Willa no longer had any control over the situation whatsoever at all.

Removing her tail from Willa's mouth now, the Banette hooked its fingers around the door of the cabinet beneath the sink, knocking things to and fro until it found what it was looking for. Grabbing hold of the the box of tracks and needles and picture hangers, the Pokemon rapped the box of them against the toilet until the box opened, its contents falling out in a scattered fashion onto the floor. Carefully, patiently, the Pokemon placed a series of pushpins through Willa's lips (some through the upper lip, some through the bottom lip), essentially stitching her mouth shut together the best she could manage to.

When it was finally satisfied that the girl who'd once loved her so much before abandoning her had received her just desserts, the Banette glanced back once more at the eyeless, stitched up, unconscious young woman, before smiling its creepy smile as it turned and fled the bathroom, moving to head back to find her newfound trainer - the girl who'd suggested she'd be her friend and love her forever: Rachel.

Happily slipping back into the bedroom she'd last been in, she found her place back upon Rachel's shoulder once more, and the two of them left the room before the older, darker haired girl could say another word about either of them. Heading back down the stairs, still perched upon her trainer's shoulder, Banette found itself feeling vindicated and quite pleased with itself.

_Wishes on stars really do come true, afterall._


End file.
